The architect in Vishal Sikka's blog

Along with reasons for his resignation, Vishal Sikka invoked Daniel Burnham to recall the extent of his task at Infosys.

When Vishal Sikka stepped down from his role as the Infosys CEO last week, he penned a long blog, in part to capture his reasons for resigning as well as to share details of his time in the corner office. At one point in the blog, he spoke about transforming the company and the enormity of the task. To make his point effectively, he quoted Daniel Burnham: “Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir man’s blood.” In case you wonder who Burnham was, here’s the answer.

Daniel Hudson Burnham was an American architect and urban designer, whose career spanned the second half of the 18th century and the first decade of the 19th one. He is remembered for his notable contributions to the skylines of cities like Chicago, New York, Washington DC and Detroit. But his role in designing the grounds for the World’s Fair: Columbian Exposition in Chicago (1893) is what he is perhaps best remembered for.

The Exposition was meant to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s arrival on the American continent in 1492. It also served as an opportunity for Burnham and his colleagues to present a prototype of what they perceived as an ideal city. As per records, almost 200 temporary buildings, canals and lagoons were constructed. This sowed the seeds of the city beautiful movement in America, promoting organised and comprehensive urban planning. The predominant usage of white colour materials resulted in the fairgrounds being referred to as the White City.

The quote Sikka has used comes from a speech made by Burnham to workers about to begin work on the Exposition. Burnham said, “Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably themselves will not be realised. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing insistency.”

For those with a taste for trivia, the Exposition chapter of Burnham’s life intersected with a much darker parallel narrative. The hyper activity and chaos generated by the fair aided the murderous spree of serial killer, HH Holmes, who ran a ‘hotel’ for visitors to the fair. The ‘hotel’ eventually earned the unfortunate nickname, ‘The Murder Castle’